The gloves are off for the women on "The View." Creator Barbara Walters said she was "betrayed" by Star Jones Reynolds' surprise on-air announcement of her exit from the daytime talk show Tuesday. Reynolds said in a magazine interview she felt she was fired.

Either way, the "help wanted" sign is up again at the show, months after it was announced that Rosie O'Donnell was replacing Meredith Vieira as a cast member in the fall.

Reynolds' exit had been rumored for months, intensifying Tuesday after reports on "Access Hollywood" and in the New York tabloids that an announcement would be coming soon.

Still, Walters said she was taken by complete surprise when Reynolds announced her departure after the first commercial break on Tuesday. The announcement had been planned for Thursday, she said.

"I love Star and I was trying to do everything I possibly could — up until this morning when I was betrayed — to protect her," Walters told The Associated Press.

Walters also said she wasn't aware until she got off the air of Reynolds' People magazine interview. Reynolds, one of the original cast members when the show started nine years ago, said: "I feel like I was fired."

That seems to be the case. Walters said ABC network chiefs had decided last fall not to renew Reynolds' contract because its research showed that Reynolds' dramatic weight loss and 2004 wedding to banker Al Reynolds had turned viewers off. Reynolds had been criticized for a Web site that promoted companies that donated items for the wedding party's gift bags.

"We tried to talk them out of it," Walters said, "and we tried to give Star time to redeem herself in the eyes of the audience, and the research just kept getting worse."

Reynolds' spokesman, Brad Zeifman, said she would not comment beyond a prepared statement that did not address these issues.

Walters said Reynolds had known for several months that she would not be coming back, before Vieira's announcement in April that she was leaving.

"I would have loved for Star to have left and not said `I was fired,' and not make it look like the program was somehow being cruel to her," she said.

O'Donnell's hiring had nothing to do with the decision, she said. That April announcement had led to widespread speculation over whether O'Donnell and Reynolds could co-exist. O'Donnell had made several caustic remarks about Reynolds, saying that it was dishonest for her to talk about losing more than 100 pounds through diet and exercise without talking about gastric bypass surgery.

On the show Tuesday, Reynolds told the audience that "The View" had decided to move in a new direction.

"I'm not sure what the future holds," she said. "But I'm absolutely sure who holds the future."

Comic Joy Behar looked like she was shocked.

"Who am I going to fight with?" Behar said.

Reynolds replied: "Something tells me you will have somebody to fight with."

I kind of expected that she would not be there for her last couple of weeks. That should make Larry King all the more interesting on Thursday. If I were her, I'd be doing whatever the heck I wanted for the rest of my time, too. If she's already telling people that it's like she's been fired, I don't see how she could go back. She's decided to take some control. I can understand that. She couldn't put up with fake-arsed Barbara Walters another minute. Good for her!

She couldn't put up with fake-arsed Barbara Walters another minute. Good for her!

I just found this.....

The View to Star: Don't Come Back
TUESDAY JUNE 27, 2006 11:15AM EST

TUESDAY JUNE 27, 2006 10:50PM EST UPDATED

Star Jones Reynolds

After the View cohost Star Jones Reynolds announced on the air Tuesday that she would leave the show in July, her network had a response: Leave now.

According to a source close to Jones Reynolds, "ABC has asked her not to return to the View tomorrow morning."

ABC could not be reached by press time, but a source close to the show confirmed that Star had been asked not to return.

Jones Reynolds, who helped launch the chatfest and spent nine years at the View table alongside Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and the newly departed Meredith Vieira, who left to replace Katie Couric on NBC's Today, says the split was anything but amicable.

I just saw the clip of Star's announcement ..What's this BS about Barbra saying she "didn't expect this to happen"?? BALONEY! Barbra is the Executive Producer of 'The View', not only would she have known about Star getting the boot, but it was probably ultimatley her decision! Old liar!

Now it seems as if Star found out in April that she no longer had a job... about two days before it was announced that the very loud and rude Rosie O'Donnell would be coming to sit at the table.

So for the last few months Star has had to eat sh*t and keep quiet so Barbara Walters could be saw as the "good guy" trying to "save" Star's job... that Star appearantly had truly lost last fall. Barbara Walters is only mad cause Star decided to end her time there on her own terms.

I said it months ago... Barbara Walters only wanted Rosie hired, to up Barbara's chances of getting an Emmy. There was one thing the very nasty Miss O'Donnell did... she won Emmy's. And if Rosie had not burned so many bridges when she left her last talk show.... she would have her own new show. I don't believe for a minute if Rosie could have gotten her own show again... she would be coming to "The View".

Now everyone seems to have forgotten all about how horrible Rosie was to her own show staffers. How she screamed at the daily like some crazed maniac.

I do not believe for one moment that Joy is going to get along with Rosie. Both of them loud and rude. And hate to be talked over. If there is any blood shedding to be done... it will be between them two.

And for the last time... I never understood with the obsession with how Star lost weight. She has done the right thing by keeping her mouth shut. Plus the whole thing with Al is old... she obviously adores that man... I don't know why people don't let it go. She has to live with him... so who cares that he is a little bit of a Momma's boy... hahaha!

If there is one thing that truly annoys me is when anyone media worthy loose's weight... cough*Oprah*cough .... and starts talking about it as if they have the cure. Then they have to sit there and look stupid a year later when you have packed back on 50 pounds. cough*Oprah*cough.

I also hope that Star moves on to doing legit news work. I had mention before, the last time I saw her on Larry King... guest hosting... she had done a great job talking crime.

I can not stand Nancy Grace either. (Love Catherine Cryer) For the life of me I do not know how Nancy got this far by being that arrogant and wrong all the time. Plus the fact ole Nancy lied about the death of her "fiance". (Did anyone else see that article? It was amazing...) That woman is a headcase.

With all the new things happening on MSNBC... maybe they will take a chance with Star doing a crime talk show.

Sounds to me like Star's contract just wasn't renewed, for whatever reasons. But what has ticked everyone off was her announcement that she was leaving. And that it looks like she was fired. Surprises like that have a way of turning friends into foes.

When shows like the View have major announcements of staff leaving, they are planned out for maximum effect. Like, first Meredith's leaving will be announced, then the arrival of Rosie, then the departure of Star, blah blah blah. When someone talks out of turn, as Star did, a negative reaction isn't surprising.

With Meredith gone and now Star it will be interesting to see if the new addition of Rosie and/or Star's replacement will give the show a boost in the upward direction or the downward one.

There was mention of Mary Jo Eustace taking Star's place. That would be cool. She's a straight shooter and would cause sparks between ....well, probably everyone!

I haven't watched in awhile, partly because I can't stand Star. I cringe whenever she opens her mouth. She ruined the red carpet shows for me, I thought she did a horrible job. She seems very self centered and out for herself all the time.

Now, I'm not crazy about Rosie. I liked Merdith and I like Joy. I enjoy Lisa Ling's reports for National Geographic. She is very interesting and clearly the view was holding her back. I'm lukewarm on Elizabeth but part of that is she always seems to talk so fast I can't always hear her.

I do like hot topics best, when I watched regularly that was my favorite part of the show. That would be interesting if it was expanded. I'm not sure who would be a good replacement for Star, I don't think it would be Gayle but they need someone who has some news background but who isn't afraid to get into a discussion that can get a bit touchy or racy. (Like Merideth)